O3A Manipulators

There are a number of libraries of O3A plugins. The O3A Manipulators library is a "Swiss Army Knife" of effects that modify O3A mixes.

The plugins included are:

O3A B->A20 and A20->B Converters

O3A Compressor

O3A Diffuser

O3A Directional Emphasis

O3A Directional Mask

O3A Graphic Equalizer

O3A Join

O3A Line

O3A Low/High Pass Filter

O3A Move

O3A Order Amplifier

O3A Panner LS and LS XYZ

O3A Parametric Equalizer

O3A Portal

O3A Reflection

O3A Screen Resizer

O3A Spatial Equalizer

O3A Spatial Mask and O3A Spatial Mask Split

O3A Spotlight and O3A Spotlight Split

O3A Zoom and Zoom XYZ

These are higher order ambisonic (HOA) VST2 and AAX plugins
for macOS (10.7+) or Windows
(Win7+) running on 32bit/64bit Intel. They can be hosted in some Digital
Audio Workstations (DAWs) that can handle tracks with at least 16 channels.
Options include Reaper,
Pro Tools Ultimate,
Pyramix and Max/MSP. Not all plugins are supported in AAX.

These plugins use the SN3D ambisonic convention, at third order.

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Highlights

Applying The Manipulators

These manipulators can be used to make changes to a 3D mix. The mix needs to be a O3A 3D mix, which you might have put together by panning (for instance using the O3A Core plugins, or by upmixing from surround formats like 5.1 using the O3A Upmixer plugins.

After the mix has been altered, you can convert it to a surround mix (for instance back to 5.1) using decoders in the O3A Core, O3A Decoding plugin libraries, or Rapture3D Advanced's AAX or VST2 plugins.

Moving Sounds Around

The O3A Move plugin lets you pull sounds towards a particular
point, or push them away. You can collapse the entire mix to a single
direction and then smoothly expand it out all around you again.

You can also use this plugin to move sounds relative to the
horizontal plane, to tune the amount of height in the mix. (You have
to think about things like that when working in 3D!)

Zooming the Scene

The O3A Zoom plugin lets you move the whole 3D scene
around in space, for instance to bring a thunderstorm in from the far
distance, or walk forwards in a concert hall.

Directional Level Changes

The O3A Directional Mask lets you increase or decrease the sound
level in a particular direction. You can use this to
boost a particular instrument in the mix, or reduce an audience
cough.

The O3A Spatial Mask is even more sophisticated, letting you
"paint" the level modifications that you want on to the O3A mix.

Compressor

The O3A Compressor reduces the dynamic range of a mix. It has a unique "Directivity" control which allows the compression to be applied uniformly across the mix, or independently in different directions.

Equalizers

There are three equalizers included. Two are fairly conventional (a
classic parameteric EQ and a 31-band 1/3 octave EQ) except that they
are applied to the entire O3A mix. The third works like the O3A
Spatial Mask, so you can paint the directions in which the EQ is
applied, for instance to pick out a particular singer.

This plugin converts mono to third order ambisonics (O3A), spreading sound out in a line.

O3A Low/High Pass Filter

I/O: 16 in, 16 out

This plugin applies a low or high pass Butterworth filter to an entire O3A scene.

O3A Move

I/O: 16 in, 16 out

This plugin warps a 3D O3A mix to move sounds around.

O3A Order Amplifier

I/O: 16 in, 16 out

This plugin allows gains to be applied to each ambisonic order in a 3D mix.

O3A Panner LS

I/O: 1 in, 16 out

This 3D panner simulates large sources and distance.

O3A Panner LS XYZ

I/O: 1 in, 16 out

This 3D panner simulates large sources and distance. This plugin is essentially the same as the O3A Panner LS, except it exposes X, Y and Z automation parameters rather than Azimuth, Elevation and Distance.

O3A Parametric Equalizer

I/O: 16 in, 16 out

This plugin applies a simple parameteric equaliser to an entire 3D O3A mix.

O3A Portal

I/O: 16 in, 16 out

This plugin shifts a region in an audio scene to another direction.

O3A Reflection

I/O: 16 in, 16 out

This plugin moves all sounds in a 3D O3A soundfield from one side to another.

O3A Screen Resizer

I/O: 16 in, 16 out

This plugin warps a O3A scene which matches a screen image to compensate for a change in screen size.

O3A Spatial Equalizer

I/O: 16 in, 16 out

This plugin applies a 31-band 1/3-octave graphic equaliser to particular directions in a 3D O3A mix.

O3A Spatial Mask

I/O: 16 in, 16 out

This plugin applies a level change to particular directions in a 3D
O3A mix.

O3A Spatial Mask Split

I/O: 16 in, 32 out
AAX: not supported

This plugin splits directions into two separate 3D O3A mixes that can be reassembled with O3A Join.

O3A Spotlight

I/O: 16 in, 16 out

This plugin keeps sounds in the "beam" of the spotlight and makes others disappear.

O3A Spotlight Split

I/O: 16 in, 32 out
AAX: not supported

This plugin splits directions into two separate 3D O3A mixes that can be reassembled with O3A Join.

O3A Zoom

I/O: 16 in, 16 out

This plugin allows an entire O3A scene to be moved around, for instance to give the impression that the audience is entering a space.

O3A Zoom XYZ

I/O: 16 in, 16 out

This plugin allows an entire O3A scene to be moved around. This plugin is essentially the same as O3A Zoom, except it exposes X, Y and Z automation parameters rather than Azimuth, Elevation and Distance.

Tech Requirements

Operating System

Supported versions of Microsoft Windows are Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10. Supported versions of Apple macOS are 10.7 or later, Intel only. The VST plugins are available in 32bit or 64bit forms on both platforms (packaged as a Universal Binary on macOS). The AAX plugins are 64bit only.

VST Host

The VST plugins require a VST 2 host with shell plugin support.

These plugins do not work with all VST 2 hosts. One reason for this is that the O3A plugins need large numbers of channels on their input or output busses. Check the individual plugins for the channel counts they need, but all of the O3A plugins need at least 16 channels on each track, and a few need more. Also note that not all VST 2 hosts can use shell plugins. In particular, at the time of writing shell plugins are not supported in Nuendo or Cubase.

AAX Host

Due to channel and stem restrictions, not all plugins are supported in AAX. Please see the documentation for details.

PC Hardware

Please check your PC meets the following requirements:

Intel Pentium D CPU or better.

200MB of free disk space.

Internal network card.

Internet Connection Required

These plugins require an Internet Connection for license activation and verification. We don't really like this, but we can't think of a better way to discourage piracy! Please don't hack our code, it's taken a lot of effort to get it this far...

Successful license verification isn't required every time you use the software, but it is needed during installation and needs to succeed once every couple of weeks to keep the license fresh.

The license can be "revoked" to remove it from one machine so it can be moved on to another. You should also do this if you're updating your system in case the machine appears to have changed identity.